It’s been a while since I reproduced any of my grandfather’s memoir. You might want to read parts 1 to 6 again.

Here my grandfather has language problems. The area he has been living in has changed governments and states several times. He is still very young, and is not used to meeting new people, especially members of his own family.

The journey on the Sava from Semelin to Bosnia Bred was very slow and difficult because there was very little water in the river and every few minutes they had to check the depth of the water – which interested me a lot. We reached Bosnia Bred around 10pm. As Guhs did not know anyone here, he asked the captain for permission to spend the night on the boat, as the train was not due to leave until 5am. We went to the station early in the morning. It was the first time in my life that I had seen a train. The train ride was very interesting. We reached Visoko around midday.

I immediately started looking for the long bridge over the river Bosna that my father had told me about. We went to the Sennenfeld inn in a carriage that was waiting for us. Many of my father’s friends came to see me and to welcome me. I was very embarrassed because I didn’t really know where to start, and after Visoko we went through the spa town of Kiseljak to Fojnica. We stopped several times on the way because Guhs liked a drink and there was no shortage of opportunities. As I said, we arrived in Fojnica at 9 pm.

My grandmother, my father, the servant Anna and the woodcutter Snilic were waiting for us. My first impressions were not good. I understood Czech when my grandmother spoke to me, but I couldn’t understand my father because he only spoke German and Hungarian. After dinner Guhs and I, accompanied by Anna, went up to the first floor where a room had been prepared for us. At last we were alone. I was overcome by a great feeling of sadness when I suddenly noticed a tiled stove in my room. I thought it was a safe. When Anna left after saying good night, I showed Guhs my discovery and asked him to look through it. Guhs explained my mistake. I had heard that my father was very rich, so I thought he kept his money in this safe. The next day Guhs, my father and I went for a walk around the area and my father told me everything I needed to know. My father wanted me to get used to him in this way. My grandmother did everything she could to get me closer to him, but I was rude and insensitive. Time passed and Guhs’s holiday came to an end on 4 October. On 5 October 1900 Guhs left me – us. I found it very hard to say goodbye to him. I was inconsolable and made plans to run away.

Babcia cared for me a lot, but she also took it upon herself to improve my behaviour, because despite Guhs’ great love for me, my behaviour was not so good; Guhs was a good man, but also a very simple person.